The Promise of Honey
by Strawberry Shortcake123
Summary: Companion fourshot to Our Eternity trilogy. Follows Devin and Callie as they pursue their dreams and find out whether or not their paths will take them to the same place.
1. Chapter 1

**I have meant to write more about Devin and Callie since I published In This Moment (which details their first meeting), but never got around to it until I read a book where the girl's name was Calliope, just like Callie's, and it reminded me of her. I came up with a little three-shot about Devin and Callie… this is chapter one of three. Enjoy!**

"Is that phone charged?" Mom demanded. "And do you have a charger for it?"

Devin sighed heavily. "Yes and yes, Mom."

"Now listen, you need to call me every day, and-"

"Max." Dad put his hand on her shoulder. "Chill out. They're eighteen; they can handle it."

As his mom gave him one more hug, Devin mouthed 'thank you' to his dad over her shoulder, which was answered with a nod.

Mom released him and moved on to hug Callie, his best friend and companion on this cross-country road trip they were blowing off college for. "You tell me if Devin isn't being a good boyfriend, alright?"

His sister laughed loudly and failed to stop herself when Devin shot her a look. He opened his mouth to say that they were _not_ dating, thank you very much, but Callie smiled and shook her head, telling him to leave it. So he did.

"Bye Dev-y!" yelled his four-year-old sister, Missouri, standing at his feet and reaching for him. He picked her up, and then her twin, Blake, ran into his other arm, and they both wrapped their little arms around his neck.

"Bye, guys," he said. "Miss you."

Eventually, everyone stopped hugging them and let them get on their way- after Devin promised, once again, to call home every day. In the driveway was the run-down car, a 1984 model, the cheapest they could find. All their luggage was already in the trunk, waiting for them to begin their adventure.

Devin slid into the driver's side and Callie in the passenger's. He looked across the console at her and grinned, adjusting his knit cap on his head. "You ready?"

"Not quite." She reached over and plucked the cap off his head, then threw it over her shoulder into the backseat. "There. Now I am."

He chuckled and shook his head, but made no move to recover his hat. If anybody else had done that, he probably wouldn't be in the best of moods, but this was Callie. For some reason, things just seemed to work differently when he was around her.

Callie giggled. "Your hair!"

Devin ran his hands through it, trying to tame the shaggy locks. "Here, I'll mess up yours; we'll be even."

He reached over to ruffle her hair, but she ducked out of his way. "Alright, enough vengeance. Back out of the driveway, Mr. Route 66."

"Does that make you Mrs. Route 66?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Only if I'm married to you."

Blushing, Devin looked away and avoided her gaze as he backed the car out.

0000000000

The plan was to have absolutely none. They were going to get on the highway and hit the gas and just _go_, and that's exactly what they did. They drove late into the night, stopped at a cheap motel, and took off early the next day. Devin drove most of the time, but sometimes Callie drove while he took a nap. They pulled onto random exits and explored towns and cities, met all kinds of people. It was just as they had envisioned.

At night, in those cheap, not-always-spotless motel rooms that they paid for with the money they'd been saving for this trip for three years, they each lay in one of the single beds, faced each other, and talked. Sometimes about that day's events, sometimes about the meaning of life, and sometimes about themselves. What they wanted. What they dreamed.

One night, around one in the morning, Devin was in his bed, watching Callie sleep in the other one. Her face was turned toward him, and the moonlight shone on her mess of hair.

"Callie," he whispered. She stirred, but just barely, and so he tried again. "Callie."

"Wha' d'ya want?" she mumbled, sitting up on her elbow. "Shouldn't you be asleep?"

"I have to ask you something," he said, watching her face. Callie sighed and lay back on her side, her eyes now wide open.

"Okay, what is it?"

"What do you want?"

Callie narrowed her eyes at him. "I could ask you the same question. What does that even mean, Devin?"

"It means, like…" Devin paused, looking for the right words. "In your life. What's something that you've known you've wanted for a long time?"

"Um." She bit her lip. "You can't laugh."

"I won't."

"Promise?"

"Yes."

"Alright." Callie inched over to the edge of her bed, and Devin did the same on his. All that separated them was air and the thin strip of carpet between the beds. "I want a big family of all adopted kids. American, Chinese, third-world countries. The United Nations of Callie."

He blinked. "Why would I laugh at that?" he asked softly.

She sighed and rolled onto her back, looking up at the ceiling. "People say adopting isn't the same as having your own. But I think that if you raise them as your own, then they _are_. So many kids need homes; I want to take care of the ones who are already here before bringing more into the world, you know?"

Devin nodded, thinking that he was surprised at this confession, but at the same time not really, and that he was angry at the thought of anybody laughing at her dream. "How long have you wanted to do that?"

Callie popped her knuckles; Devin cringed at the sound. She rolled back onto her side and closed her eyes. "Actually, since a while after I met you. I'd always heard about these experiments, like your parents, from my mom, and when I started talking to you I realized that even if they aren't getting their DNA altered, lots of kids are sort of in that situation of not having a home. And from there, I just decided that's what I was going to do."

"Wow." He reached over and pushed her hands down before she could pop her knuckles again. Once they were down, though, he didn't let go; he held one on them, curling his fingers around her palm. He was, truthfully, touched. Touched that she had thought about the trails his parents went through. Touched that she had been inspired by his family to make the world a better place. "Cal, whether your kids are adopted or not, you'll be an amazing mother."

Devin waited for her reply, not sure what to expect in response to his heartfelt comment, but none came. As he leaned forward and listened, he realized that her breathing had evened out, and she was asleep.

He sighed. Maybe he'd tell her again tomorrow; maybe he wouldn't. For now, he just kept her hand in his, their clasped palms swinging slightly between the beds, and joined her in dreamland.

**Here is chapter one! I haven't written the next two yet, but they should be up fairly quickly. Please review, whether you liked it or not! Thanks, love you all : )**


	2. Chapter 2

**It has been two weeks since the first installment of this story- I didn't mean to take this long! I'll try to have chapter three up sooner! Enjoy! : )**

_Three Years Later_

Devin hurried into the convenience store, grabbed a handful of napkins off of a nearby counter, and dashed out again. He jogged to his car, which Callie was standing beside with her head poked into the backseat.

"Here," he panted, holding out the napkins.

She stood up straight, pushed her sunglasses up on her head, and took them. "Dev, can you get her a change of clothes?" she asked as she dabbed at the baby's chin with the napkins.

"Sure," Devin said, sliding past her and popping open the trunk. He found the baby's bag and dug through it for a change of clothes. "Here."

"Thank you," Callie said, taking the clothes from him and unbuckling the baby from her car seat. As she lifted her out, the baby coughed and spat up all over her mother's shirt.

"Honey!" she groaned loudly as Devin took the baby. He could see her quickly losing her patience with her daughter.

"Get back in the car, Cal," he said. "I'll change her. Be there in a minute."

With a huge sigh, Callie got into the passenger's seat. Devin carefully lay Honey on the car's closed trunk. "No spitting up on Mommy," he mock-scolded, wagging a finger in Honey's face as he undressed her. "You hear me? She'll get very mad at you!"

"Devin, I can hear you," Callie called through the open window.

"Hear that?" he whispered to Honey as he put a fresh shirt on her. "Mommy's gonna be mad at _me_ if I don't follow her every order exactly as-"

"_Devin!_"

"Told ya."

Honey giggled and held her arms out for him.

0000000000

On the first round of this road trip, they had left at the beginning of August and returned by Halloween, when the money they had saved for the trip ran out. Once home, they began the process of saving again; Devin worked two jobs and Callie worked one, and they both took some college classes, much to their parents' relief. For almost three years, they saved, and now they were back on the road.

Their new companion in their travels was eight months old and had come to them four months ago. Callie worked as a part-time assistant to a social worker, and the social worker was involved in adoptions from China. One night, she came home and called Devin, and together they looked over her finances. They agreed that if she was careful, she could afford to adopt one of the Chinese orphans, like she had her heart set on doing. Six months later, they flew to California to pick up Honey Le, her baby girl.

That night, they found a motel and checked in to a room for twenty bucks. They walked through the door with duffel bags over their shoulders, plus the baby's bag, and Callie immediately collapsed on one of the beds.

"I'm so tired," she moaned, sitting Honey down beside her. "You tired, baby?"

Honey bounced slightly on the bed. "No!"

"Apparently not," Callie mumbled, closing her eyes.

"You can go to sleep, Cal," Devin said, removing pajama bottoms and a t-shirt from his duffel bag. "I'm gonna be up for an hour or so; I'll watch her."

"Are you sure? You drove all day."

"Yeah, I'm fine. If I get tired and she's not going down, I'll wake you up." He poked her shoulder lightly. "Trust me on that one. I will be waking you up at some terrible hour. Sleep while you can."

She laughed and lay down, pulling the covers out from underneath her and wrapping them around herself. She closed her eyes, and Devin leaned down to remove the ribbon from her hair and give her a kiss on the forehead.

"Watch my kid," she mumbled, reaching up to swat his face as he straightened.

"Fine, fine." As her breathing evened out and she fell into a slumber, Devin looked at Honey, who was holding her arms out to him. "Hold on, sweetheart. Let me change."

Once his pajamas were on, he picked up Honey and lounged on the other bed with her sprawled across his stomach, looking up at him. "Hey, baby."

"Hi, Daddy," she said, making him stop in the process of tickling her neck. She carried on, giggling and ducking away from his hand, but he sat frozen. Sure, Honey didn't have a father, Callie had no boyfriend, and Devin spent a lot of time helping with the baby, but nobody had taught her to call him _Daddy_. Where the hell had she picked _that _up?

Devin played with the baby for about another hour, and then she started to drift off. He placed her in bed beside him, stacked some extra pillows on the other side of the bed so she couldn't roll off of it.

When Honey started crying, it felt like he had just fallen asleep, but a glance at the clock told him that it was past three in the morning, so he'd gotten a few hours.

In the other bed, Callie was stirring. "I'll get her," she moaned, sitting up and swinging her legs onto the floor. "Ugh."

"Here." Devin picked up the baby and held her out for Callie to take. In her mother's arms, Honey quieted enough that he could speak. "Hey, Cal."

"Yeah?"

"Earlier…" He sat up and squinted at her. The room was dark, but the window was open, so he could clearly make out her face. "Earlier, Honey called me daddy."

There was a pause, and then a nonchalant, "Yeah?"

"Yeah. It just… it was weird. She's never called me that before, and I don't know why she would."

Callie didn't say anything.

"Callie?"

"What," she said, more in a monotone than as a question.

"Do you know why?"

Devin asked the question gently, watching her carefully, but she responded as if he had accused her of something. "Sorry I taught my daughter to offend you. I'll tell her that she doesn't get a daddy and not to call you that anymore."

He sat there and stared at her, shocked. They had bickered many, many times, but it was always playful. They had _never_ snapped at each other like this. What was she even talking about? _Offend_ him? "I was just wondering-"

"No, it's okay. I get it." She turned away from him, still bouncing the baby, whose cries were reduced to whimpers. "Go to sleep, Devin."

But by now, he was wide awake. It was obvious that he had hurt Callie, and he wanted to know why, because he felt horrible. Devin stood up and placed a tentative hand on her arm. "Cal. Tell me what's the matter."

"What's the _matter_?" Callie whipped around and glared at him, and he appeared to have broken down a wall, because words came spilling out of her. "What's the _matter_ is that I am raising this kid alone, and she doesn't have a father. It's not even like I'm divorced and she'll see her dad on weekends. She doesn't even _have_ one. And since you spend so much time with her, yes, I did refer to you as Daddy a few times when you weren't there. So yes, I do know why she called you that. Any other questions?"

Devin stood in place, his hand still on her shoulder, quiet as he digested this information. It wasn't that he _minded_; it was just weird. The idea that anybody would call him their father didn't make sense to him; he still thought of himself as a kid. But, really, he _was_ the closest thing Honey had to a real dad.

As they stood there in the motel room, Devin could see Callie's face slowly growing calmer until she took a deep breath and said, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't attack you like that. It… it really doesn't have anything to do with you. I just lost it. I'm sorry."

"That's okay," he said hastily.

"I feel so bad, Devin, that she doesn't have a father. She has a single mother. A young one, not out of college, barely old enough to drink… sometimes I feel guilty for adopting her, like I should have left her to be taken in by a real family, with a mom and dad and maybe a couple other kids. Like I'm being selfish by keeping her with me when she could be with-"

"Callie, no." He turned her quickly around and folded her into his arms, the baby between them. "You're an amazing mother. You're the best person they could have given her to."

"That isn't true," she sniffed, pressing her nose into his t-shirt.

"Yes, it is." Devin kissed the top of her head, stroked her hair. Seeing her like this was slightly scary, since she usually had such a grip on everything, including herself and him. But when it did happen, he tried to help the best way he knew how. "You love her just as much as any other family would."

"But-"

"Baby, stop talking," he said, the words slipping out without his permission. He bit his lip and lay his head on top of Callie's, silently thanking God that she was too upset to notice what he had called her. He led her over to the bed, sat down, and gently pulled her down beside him.

"I want her to have a-"

"I know." Devin took Honey from her and bounced her on one knee while Callie buried her face in his other one. "I want her to have a dad too."

Callie froze, then rolled onto her back, head still in his lap, staring up at him. Only then did he realize what he had said and implied, and he stuttered, wanting to take it back. But then, he decided to just move forward, take a step he'd wanted to take for a long time. "You don't have to be a single mother, Callie."

Devin held his breath as he took in her stoic expression. _Say something. Say something._

She didn't say anything, but she did lift herself up on one elbow, tilt her face up, and press her lips to his, which was a perfectly acceptable answer in his book. He slipped his hand behind her neck to keep her in that position, and their mouths remained melded together for several moments before Honey's sharp cry made them jerk apart.

"Come here, Honey," Callie sighed, reaching for the baby, but Devin picked her up first.

"Go to sleep, Cal," he said, laying back on his bed with the baby sprawled across his chest.

"Devin, you were up with her earl-"

"Hey," he said, grinning at her. "I thought you wanted her to have a daddy."

For a second, she just stared at him, and then could not resist throwing her head back and laughing. "Okay, okay. You're right. I wouldn't want to be a hypocrite."

"Good." Devin reached toward her with the hand that wasn't holding Honey to his chest. Callie let him cup her face and drag it down toward him, then brush her lips with his twice. "G'night."

"'Night."

She crawled into bed and closed her eyes, but the pounding of her heart and racing of her mind were keeping her from falling asleep. After a few minutes of failing to relax, she heard Devin's voice. "Cal?"

"Yeah?"

He yawned. "I just wanted to tell you that I'll always want to help you run the United Nations of Callie."

**I have stayed up late to finish this and am very tired, so forgive me if there are any typos, especially toward the end. Please review. One more chapter! : )**


	3. Chapter 3

Devin rang the doorbell, then stuck his hands in his pockets as he waited. On the front of the house, beside the door, was a plaque with two little handprints on it. He smiled and held his own hand up to the plaque, noting how far his own fingers extended past the green-paint ones.

"Daddy!"

He dropped his hand and smiled as Honey opened the oak door, then pushed open the screen door. "Hey, princess!"

Honey leaped into his arms, and he hoisted her up to his hip. "I see your mom did your hair this morning."

She made a face, tugging on one of her uneven braids. "Daddy, will you redo it?" Dropping her voice, she added, "I don't want to hurt Mommy's feelings, but she _never_ does my hair right."

Suppressing a laugh, Devin told the five-year-old that he would fix her hair, promised he wouldn't tell Mommy, and stepped into the house. "Cal?" he called, walking down the hallway, still carrying Honey.

"Devin!" Callie emerged from her bedroom, her hair in a messy bun, a frenzied look on her face. "Hey, I know you just got here, and I don't want to be rude and run you out or anything, but I have _so_ much work to do before tomorrow, and she's hungry and bored… can you please take her somewhere?"

"Aww," he whined, "but I came over here to watch your cable."

"Devin, please, I am _begging_ you."

"Chill." Devin grinned at her. "I'm kidding. I'll take the kid out so you can get your work done. We'll have fun, right, Hon?"

"Right!" Honey wriggled in his arms, and he gently set her on the floor. "I'm gonna get my shoes!"

As she scurried off, Devin turned to Callie and slid his arms around her waist. "So. You're tense."

She sighed and ran her hands over her face. "I fell so behind last week when Honey was sick, and there's a huge deadline for something tomorrow, but I'm not even completely sure what that is…"

Devin pulled her into a hug and stroked the back of her head. "Well, I'll take Honey to lunch and the zoo, and you just go get your stuff done, okay?"

Callie nodded into his chest, taking a deep breath, attempting to calm herself. "Okay."

"And if you're not done by the time we get back, she can sleep over at my house."

"Okay." She leaned on him a moment longer, then sighed and pushed away. "Let me get you some money-"

"Nope, I'll pay." He caught her as she started to walk away. "Come back here."

"Devin, I need to get back to work."

"You can't stop three seconds to kiss your boyfriend?"

Callie growled under her breath as she turned in his arms to face him. Before she could say anything, Devin was holding her flush against him and kissing her senseless. She went along with it, kissing him back, pulling away for air but then going in for another, and another.

"Okay…" she whispered after a couple minutes of this. "I _really_ need to go."

"Okay." Devin kissed her mouth one more time, then her cheek and her nose. "I'll see you later."

"Bye."

She slipped out of his arms and stepped back into her bedroom. He watched her start over to the desk in the corner of the room, where there was a computer and many stacks of paperwork, and then called to her retreating form, "I love you."

Callie looked back at him, a smile softening her stressed features. "I love you too, Dev."

0000000000

Two hours later, Devin and Honey were standing in front of the polar bears, holding hands, watching them intently. A few people gave second glances to the blonde young man standing with the Chinese girl, but Honey didn't notice, and he just ignored them.

"They're so pretty," she whispered.

"I know," Devin agreed, watching her dark, wide eyes as she took in the huge white bears wading through their swimming hole. After a moment, she looked up at him.

"Daddy, are those polar bears married?"

He looked back at them. Having no actual idea whether they had mated or even if there was one bear of each gender, he just nodded. "Yep."

Honey cocked her head to the side, the braids he had redone at the restaurant falling over her shoulders. "My friend at kindergarten, she thought it was weird that you and Mommy don't live together. She said her parents are married. Why aren't you and Mommy married?"

Devin ducked his head, avoiding her gaze. At twenty-five years old, after dating for four years, most guys would have proposed by now, but Devin had only gotten his college degree two years ago, and his first real job just a few months earlier. Up until then, Callie had had the better job. When the social worker she assisted retired, she referred Callie to take her place, and she accepted the position. He wasn't sure whether it was manly pride or guilt that kept him from entering a marriage where his wife would be the breadwinner. Maybe a little of both.

That had been half a year ago, though. And now, he was making plenty as a graphic designer for a publishing company, as much money as she was. Something was still keeping him from asking… fear, maybe. The fear of rejection. If he didn't ask, he didn't risk being told no.

"Daddy?"

And then there was that. Her daughter called him "daddy". She wouldn't say no to the person she called the father of her child, would she?

Devin looked down at Honey. "I'm not sure why we aren't married, sweets."

"Well, you should get married." She hugged his leg tightly. "I'd love for you to live with us."

He smiled and ruffled her hair. "I'd like that, too. We'll see what we can do, okay?"

Honey smiled back, then returned her attention to the polar bears. She leaned against her father's leg, clutching his hand in both of hers. "When you and Momma get married, we'll be just like the polar bears," she said softly. "With the mommy and daddy and baby."

Devin started to say that he didn't see a baby polar bear anywhere, but then he saw the little ball of fluff, considerably smaller than her parents, emerging from the artificial cave. Her parents immediately moved toward it, surrounding her, leading her to the swimming hole, where they hovered protectively as their baby jumped in.

0000000000

One week later, Devin went to Callie's house, hoping to actually be able to watch her cable TV. He rang the doorbell, but nobody answered, which he found odd- it was Saturday; both of them should be home.

Frowning, he got out his keys and opened the front door. As he stepped inside, he heard faint music coming from the kitchen.

"Callie?" he called, but there was no answer. He walked toward the kitchen and stopped in the doorway, then exhaled in relief, and grinned.

Callie was wearing a leotard and skirt and her pink ballet shoes, and was spinning around the kitchen. Every movement was graceful, done with precision, even though she was just having fun. The radio sitting on the counter was playing some song he didn't recognize, and she was singing along.

"_What we got is, just like driving on an open highway, never knowing what we're gonna find, just like two kids, baby, always trying to live it up, oh, yeah_…" She almost hit the corner of the table, but quickly dodged it and got back into her rhythm almost immediately. "_That's our kind of love_…"

Devin watched, not saying anything, and Callie was so wrapped up in her dancing that she didn't even notice him until the song was over and she was standing in front of him, her feet crossed, her finishing pose. "What the hell are you doing?" she demanded, ducking her head to hide her red cheeks and grabbing a folder off the table in an ill-conceived attempt to pretend like she was doing work.

"Just enjoying the show," he smirked. And he was. Watching Callie dance was like seeing the eighth wonder of the world.

"Are you here for a reason?" she asked, still pretending to be engrossed in the contents of the folder.

"Yes, actually. I came over to watch your television."

"And what's wrong with yours?"

"No cable."

Callie sighed.

Devin then realized that even with the radio still on, now playing a thumping beat with a guy singing about a ragin' Cajun, the house was quieter than usual. "Where's Honey?"

"At her friend's house."

She finally closed the folder and set it down. Devin moved behind her and put his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her head. Callie gave in and leaned against him, holding his hands where they rested on her stomach.

They stood like that and listened to the rest of the upbeat song. It drew to a close, there was a short radio identification ad, and then something else came on.

_Well, my heart didn't skip a beat, when I saw you standing there, looking like some kind of angel, like you were walking on air…_

With a sudden urge to be a part of Callie's art form, Devin let go of her and gently turned her around to face him. He put his hand on her waist and took her hand, entwining their fingers.

"What are we doing?" she asked, but he just shook his head as they started moving from side to side, the simplest dance in the world. "I thought you came over here to watch my cable."

"Shut up, Cal," Devin sighed, pulling her closer to him. "I'm trying to be romantic here."

"Wow, trying on new hats, are we?"

He wrapped his arms all the way around her, burying his face in the crook of her neck. "Why are you being so difficult?" he whispered against her skin.

Callie made a sound similar to a growl. "You annoyed me."

"Why?"

"Because you were standing there watching me, and I had no idea you were there."

Devin sighed and rubbed her back, long strokes from her shoulders, down to the top of her skirt, and back up again. "I was watching you because you're beautiful, Callie. Especially when you dance."

Her muscles relaxed underneath his hands, and he knew he was forgiven. In the background, the song had moved into the second chorus: _This ain't no love song, I just felt like gettin' my guitar on and singin' a tune, singin' 'bout you…_

The lyrics suddenly hit home with Devin. This song was about a guy pretending he wasn't in love with a girl when he obviously was, and wasn't that what he was doing by putting off this proposal? Pretending that he was fine living in his own apartment and dropping in when he wanted to watch TV, pretending that he didn't want to be with her for the rest of his life, pretending there was any remote possibility that he could be happy with someone else?

"Callie."

"Yeah."

Stupid. He didn't have a ring, on him or at home. Why hadn't he bought it? But now that he had started, he wasn't going to stop; he might never get the courage to do this again.

The song faded out, and then a jingle about carpet cleaners came on. Devin pulled away so that he could see Callie's face. It was not hostile; it was slightly weary, but her eyes were alert as they took in his expression. Her messy bun was falling out; he gently removed the hair tie and let her curls fall onto her shoulders. He combed his fingers through it, working through the tangles, marveling at her effortless beauty and, yes, avoiding the question.

"What is it, Devin?" she asked, looking up at him through her eyelashes.

"Cal…" Should he get down on one knee? Give a long speech detailing everything he loved about her? Those seemed to have a corniness factor that he wasn't capable of. And so instead, he twirled a piece of her hair around his finger and said, "Callie, I want to marry you."

Callie's facial expression did not change at all. She met his gaze and did not waver. "I want to marry you, too."

Devin's chest swelled with joy and relief. "Okay, that's great. That's great-"

He moved in to kiss her, but she held up her hand to stop him. "Wait."

His heart dropped into his stomach. _She changed her mind. _"What is it?"

"You have to acknowledge that you are also marrying the United Nations of Callie."

A smile was inching across her face; for the first time today, she had decided to stop being a hard ass. He mirrored it. "Baby, I agreed to that a long time ago. Am I allowed to kiss you now?"

"I guess," she teased, and then closed the gap herself. They stood in the kitchen with their arms around each other and their lips locked for a long time, and all Devin could do was wonder what had taken him so long.

**There are three references in here to country music songs! Anybody who can tell me what the songs and artists are gets a virtual chocolate chip cookie! (All very good songs, recommended.)**

**I only got a few reviews last chapter, which saddened me, because I loved that chapter and was very excited to post it. :( I really hope I get more reviews for this one!**

**Also- this was originally a three-shot, but I am going to be posting an epilogue soon. THEN it will be over. So this isn't over quite yet!**

**Have a good day :) And make mine good- please review!**


	4. Epilogue

**Kudos to the three people who knew the titles and artists of two of the songs last chapter! The third one was a little trickier, because there weren't any direct lyrics included. If you read carefully, Devin mentions that a song comes on where a guy is singing about a "ragin' Cajun"- that is the third reference, and that would be She's Country by Jason Aldean. Awesome song. Check it out!**

Honey Le sat on the steps of her front porch, combing her fingers through her long black hair as she watched her family. Everybody except for her was in the yard, the kids running and laughing, the adults talking and drinking wine.

The oldest of the kids was nine, five years younger than Honey, but she was actually Honey's aunt. Around the time Daddy proposed to Mom, Grammy unexpectedly got pregnant, and Larkin was born a month after Honey's parents' wedding. Besides her, the kids were Honey's siblings: eight-year-old red-head Felicity; six-year-old Jacoby, Asian like her; five-year-old brown-skinned Austin; and two-year-old Brooklyn, who her parents had actually just flown to Florida to pick up about two months ago. All five of them were adopted, from all over America and the world, and it showed. Whenever they went out in public, they got so many looks. Of all of them, Brooklyn looked most like she could be Mom and Daddy's biological daughter, with her blonde curls and pale skin, but even she didn't bear any huge resemblances to their parents.

Honey tuned out Felicity's shrieks of, "Jacoby, stop pulling my hair! Ow! Stop!" and looked to the adults, sitting in a circle in the driveway. Aunt Gracie was sitting beside her husband with her head on his shoulder, absentmindedly rubbing her swollen stomach. Raven, her uncle who was only two years her senior, sat on Gracie's other side. Aunt Missouri was sitting in the lap of Nate, the boyfriend she had brought home from college, and she looked content as they cuddled. It made Honey smile, because she knew Missouri had battled a lot of depression and anxiety issues, and seeing her happy was a rare treat for all of them.

Grammy and Grandpa were in their mid-forties, and their hair was beginning to gray, but sometimes, Honey caught them looking at each other like they were sixteen years old again. These looks encouraged her, reassured her that not all marriages were doomed to come to divorce and child custody hearings, but nothing made her think that true love really did exist as much as her own parents.

Mom and Daddy were listening attentively as Grammy talked about something, but Daddy's hand still rubbed circles on her back, and Mom's fingers still ran through his hair. They were never overly mushy, but they never fought, unless mild bickering counted. And more than anything, they _got _each other, and were there for each other. Honey had heard all the stories of how they texted each other for two years before meeting in person, all the stories of the road trip. And the story of how _she_ had brought them together.

Daddy especially liked to tell her how it happened, but often Mom would hug her close and say, "Where would I be without my Honey?" And whenever she was feeling sad or worthless, this was what she thought of, and it lifted her spirits.

The first time Daddy told her the in-depth story was when she was ten years old. She had come home from school upset by a comment a girl made, something about adopted kids' parents being "fake" parents.

Honey came home and ran to her daddy, bawling because she thought he wasn't her _real_ daddy. That was when he put her on his lap and told her everything. Absolutely everything. Including how if she had never blurted out a certain word, he may have never gotten the guts to tell her mom that he loved her.

"Your mommy named you Honey," he told her, after he'd told her all the facts. "I had nothing to do with it, but I still think it's a good name. You know why?"

Honey shook her head. "Why?"

Daddy removed one of her braids and started redoing it, like he'd been doing for years. "Honey is sweet, and honey is sticky. You're sweet and sticky, too."

She wrinkled her nose. "I'm sticky?"

He laughed and finished the braid, tying it with the red ribbon. "Well, you're _metaphorically_ sticky. You brought me and Mommy together, Honey. And now, even when we've got Felicity and Jacoby, you're still keeping us together. Like glue. Sticky. Get it?"

Honey Le did, more or less. Over the next few years, she spent a lot of time thinking about that conversation, and every time she understood a little bit better.

Now, as she looked at this yard, at all these misfits who had found a home, she felt this more than ever. There were blondes, redheads, Asians, Africans, and human-avian hybrids- but this was _one_ family. One family with many parts.

And, looking at all these people, these people she loved, she came to a conclusion.

All of them had promised a little honey.

**That's a wrap!**

**I just really wanted to get this done, so it's probably not the best thing I've ever written. Still, go ahead and tell me what you think- especially since this is the last chapter! :) See ya… probably with more Our Eternity short stories!**


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